The Heart of a Mother
by Horror's Bride
Summary: It started as an affair that was broken off long ago. Though Yoru Bokuso-chi, a widowed clan leader, and Kakashi meet again when the Copy Ninja loses the woman's child on a mission. It turns the blood between them sour but can they build it back up as they share her child Yuyake? (Conjoined story with The Mute Kunoichi)(Only their encounters without Yuyake's presence)
1. Chapter 1

**a/n: A conjoined story with The mute Kunoichi and will hop around as far as time.**

"Talking"

 _"Thoughts" and Sound effects_

 _"Telepathic speech"_

 **~X~X~X~X~ is a change in scene**

 **~X~ a change in time and sometimes scene too**

 **~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Kakashi was doing something he hadn't in a while.

Panic.

It is silent and carefully removed from his face, but definitely there in his frontal lobe. During his fight with Zabuza Momochi, one of his students had disappeared. The mist boy had spoken of her departure being proceeded with odd attacks at the air before dashing off and it worried him...Team 7 had to focus on the current situation, but once it was over, their first concern was where their soon to be ex-teammate had gone. But she was no where to be found. The grandson of their client told them he saw her head off into the water , not the same direction they had arrived from, but another direction that was clear of fog.

Kakashi was worried, the way Haku had descibed her behavior, it sounded like genjutsu. Though Bokuso-chi members usually can't fall for genjutsu since it's just a manipulation of chakra in the brain and the brain was their specialty, It's still possible that a child like Yuyake could have fallen for it since she lacked experience. That would mean someone was trying to lure her away on purpose.

Something twisted in his gut. She had been targeted.

He should have watched for her better.

He summoned a trained pug named Paku to his call, and he picks up a scent. However he is further sunken into his worry when it simply disappears amongst the waves of the water. How was that possible?

Empty, the two, man and dog, return to the shore where the boys had been waiting. One in eagerness, the other in unreadable quiet. "They're back!" the blond informed but his excitement dwindles as he noticed it was only two of them. Where was Yuyake? "Hey, what's going on? Where is she?" he voiced. "Her trail stops in the middle of the water" Kakashi relayed and Naruto is frowning. No matter, he was always upset.

The join glanced to the canine on the floor, "And you're sure you can't smell her anywhere else?" he inquired. The pooch scratched his ear with his hind leg and spoke the truth, "It's no use, that was her most recent trail," and the dog doesn't say it but... maybe she drowned?

The thought crosses the man's mind as well, but he doesn't dare speak it to the boys. "What? What use are you!? If you can't find her!" "That's enough" Kakashi stopped the jinguriki. He hadn't the time for his misplaced anger. The Uchiha besides him was in a wallow. "Paku did what he could. It makes no sense to waste time on blaming someone who didn't do anything." the teacher made eye contact with the boy in blue. "We _all_ lost her" he distributed the blame, but it doesn't help. Sasuke frowned deeper and turned away.

It was not they, it was he. He had been right there. Naruto wasn't there and Kakashi had been in the heat of battle. Sasuke's fists clamp up. It was him who was right beside her and let her run off. He should have paid attention. He should have done something!

"Are you done blaming yourself? Cause we're heading back to bridge builder's for a night and we leave tomorrow"

The boys turn to regard the jonin. Leave? As in the village? But what about their team mate!? "What?! What happened to all that stuff you said about abandoning you team!" Naruto roars at the betrayal, no way was he giving up that easy.

"There's no more we can do, we've been over the entire island and there's no sign of her attacker of Yuyake herself, now let's go," he ordered the the twitch the boy's have in their furrowed brows warms the ex-anbu's heart. As well as cracks it a little.

The pup poofs when his uselessness is revealed.

 **~X~**

 _SPLASH!_

Kakashi emerged from the dark water.

Where was she!?

While his children attempt to dream, the charge returned to the end of Yuyake's scent. He spent hours diving and the shroud of darkness leads him to pat around for the body of a young girl.

But she wasn't there.

It's a bittersweet feeling.

All it really tells him is that her body isn't here. She could be dead and in the hands of the enemy, or alive and being tortured, There's so much information he's left with out and it's frustrating!

He wallows in his failure for a moment as the sky and waters merge around him in a void of black poked by the dim circle of moon and stars.

He'd better head back...

 **~X~**

It was today! The team to which the daughter of Yoru Bokuso-chi belonged was returning from their mission. It was the first time her darling had been outside the village and she was so excited to hear about her experience.

 _"Having her hold back will kill her_ "

Oh gosh she hated that voice in the back of her head. It had been there ever since she took over the clan at such a young age. In particular, it sponded the day after the Uchiha massacre. She remembered staying up all through the night when she 'd received the news. She had originally pursued the same goal of strengthen her people and eventually getting the recognition they deserved and out shine the smug pretty boys of the village. Then they died, and it was like a bright light being shined in her face, first it was painful, then everything became clear.

Their strength, their brilliance, it fed into the babes of fear that were birthed on the night of the nine tailed fox's rampage. What if the Bokuso-chi fell into a similar position? Her children, her cousins, their children! It was dangerous. So in a fit of fear she announced that they'd continue to grow strong, but in silence, it was what they were best at anyway, being a clan of mutes, right? Some thought the notion stupid, that such actions would lead to the death of the clan, others thought it the best motion. The generation below was forced into submission, some rebel but eventually broke, and very few broke from it completely, those few? The legendary Honoo Bokuso-chi and Akane Bokuso-chi, the woman's younger cousin and eldest daughter, respectively.

It had been easy to keep up the moral code, until she had her child, Yuyake, running about, holding her skill back, and it put her at grave risk for death.

It frustrated her how hypocritical she was.

Maybe... maybe she should lift the order?

Oh how many times she'd tossed that idea in her head, turning it over to examine all aspects until her resolve would knocked it out her grasp for another week.

She'd think about it later, now she needed to prep for the return of her daughter.

 **~X~**

Hours.

They had passed like old friends as the mother laid in wait, and the moon came home, but never her daughter.

Where was she? She past her thumbs over her nails in a nervous tick. It was almost midnight. Her food was cold and everyone had gone to bed. She stood on her porch, waiting; The quiet of the compound was usually comforting, but now it was an antithesis. The way it curled around the base of her mind and squeezed out the darkest thoughts like a puss, they oozed down and played scenarios behind her lids with every blink. The silence squeezed too much and blood soon poured out, splattering all over the images of her child lying lifeless.

 _DAHK!_ She punched the patio railing. Then her fist gripped the wood, pulling her feet to join its seige. The index and pointer finger on her free hand straightened and she was gone when a breeze stroked the vegetation

 **~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

A simmering blue light made the presence of a certain clan leader known in the household of Kakashi Hatake.

Said jonin had been staring blankly into the darkness of his quarters, wondering if it would finally swallow him as punishment for all the wrong he's done. the silver haired male turned to the clan leader and the way her ombre blue to purple eyes caught the glow of her visible chakra was hauntingly familiar. The way her wavey hair rippled in the air around her crouching form was too, just in a hostile way he was used to seeing others receive. He held similar feelings about the whispers that seemed to come from her chakra.

Her flow-y garments and hair follicles dropped as she rose above them. She looked down at him from his windowsill like a goddess of destruction that had been toyed with to the points of her limits. He knew this was coming. _"Where is my child, Hatake?"_ Gosh when was the last time he'd heard that voice? 6? 7 years? 13?

 _"Speak, Copy Ninja!"_ she shot to him, a gust that served her slammed objects into the far wall. Her hand bunched up the neck of his shirt while his dull eyes seemed to barely registrar everything. "I. Don't know," his lips parted with an ugly truth that irritated the heart of a mother. _"What do you mean_ _ **you don't know**_ _?"_ Was his words to indicate that she was in the village but avoiding home, or...

"I lost her on the mission." he took full responsibility. He should have watched after her better. Sure he was irate she'd broken his code, Obito's code, on her first mission, to such a high degree, but that was her mother's fault, he should have at least attempted to teach her out of it, not shut her out and disown her as a student at first sign of trouble.

It was stupid, disgusting what he'd done. It was exactly what he had been fighting with himself to no longer do.

The way Yoru's face fell and how her arms weakened to the strengthen of a toothpick was like torture. It was like when he'd realized Yuyake was really gone. She was just freaking gone.

It was defeating, it made one self-destructive. It made him a failure.

The woman stumbled into the wall, her mouth open in a silent sob that fell upon the floor. Her hand slowed her decent to into a pitiful curl of meat. Her baby, the only piece of immediate family she had left, gone. Snatched from her. Kakashi placed his shadow over her figure, his head weighed down by his guilt.

The powerful leader of the Bokuso-chi clan reduced to a broken pile of woman by merely his words. "I was fighting Zabuza of the mist. When the battle was over, she was just gone. and tracking her was impossible" He relayed, trying to fill in as many holes as possible in the woman leaking so many upon his floor.

Jeeze, the first time he saw her after he broke off the affair so many years ago and this is what it's about: how he lost the only child she had that was speaking to her.

It was hours before her tears dried on her brown cheeks, The whole time Kakashi had just stood there watching, raking his brain for what to say. Yoru was always one who liked to be left in silence though, so perhaps his cat-caught-tongue was for the best.

"I'm sorry." he spoke first at day break. The broken mother did not respond. She did not twitch. She did not even look at him. She simply flung herself onto her unstable legs and let them lead her out the door. When she had parted from the premises, Kakashi took a deep breath and moved to his desk to go over forms for a replacement for the girl. He might as well torture himself a bit more, he deserved it.


	2. Wrong Choices

"Talking"

 _"Thoughts" and Sound effects_

 _"Telepathic speech"_

 **~X~X~X~X~X~ A change in scene**

 **~X~ a change in time and sometimes scene as well.**

 **~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

 **Previously**

"I'm sorry." he spoke first at day break. The broken mother did not respond. She did not twitch. She did not even look at him. She simply flung herself onto her unstable legs and let them lead her out the door. When she had parted from the premises, Kakashi took a deep breath and moved to his desk to go over forms for a replacement for the girl. He might as well torture himself a bit more, he deserved it.

 **~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

 **Chapter 2: wrong choices**

Yoru bristles lightly when her daughter comes home with an application for the chunin exams. Her daughter would be fighting with the same team as before... The team that lost her. But if they lost her without catching sight of the assailant, they can't be very good at having her back. The woman walks to her home office mulling over if she let her daughter be. No, there was no way she could entrust her child to them, they didn't have her covered before.

 _"To be fair... neither did she,"_

her heart cracks at the idea. If the voice was right, that would indirectly make her responsible for her child's disappearance and poor team's structure. The thought is a heavy one, and it makes her massage her cranium to prep for the weight. Alright then...

Of course this was her fault.

That was a reoccurring pattern lately. Ever since her husband passed, she found herself always making the wrong decisions. Always. It was like he was her sense of reasoning, and now that he was gone she was so undeniably screwed. It didn't help that Yuyake was getting older and she wanted more independence. Did she teach the girl how to make proper decisions? Yeah... yeah, during that winter fest a couple years back. Ok, ok, back to the subject at hand.

She's getting rebellious vibes off her daughter, which meant the heiress wouldn't follow the hold back order, no complaints there. But holding back before may have made her team distrust her? Yoru had seen the blonde ball of energy of a teammate that her little girl brought over all the time for dinner. He didn't seem too bad, though she didn't have many expectations for the last Uchiha; it's possible he'd let her slip just for the sake of spite because of the clan's bad blood. Yeah, that was enough, there was no way she was leaving her daughter in that squad, a teacher who wasn't paying attention and a kid who may have some sort of vendetta.

It would probably be best to give Yuya a new team. The wavy haired woman goes through few files on her desk and it doesn't take long to pick too. Hikaru and Hoshi. They're twins from the kurosaki clan. They're known for being very perceptive, so they should keep a good eye out. A smile graces the mother's face. This'll work.

 **~X~**

 _Absolutely_ _ **not**_ _!"_ The stern proclamation of Yoru Boskuso-chi came down with the slam of her hands on the Hokage's desk. _"I'll be Darned if I allow my daughter to return under the same care of the man that lost her!"_ the Bokuso-chi held fast, upset this was becoming far more taxing and time consuming. Why was the Hokage fighting her so hard!? It wasn't like it was hard thing to do! Kakashi stood cross the room from her, against the wall. He didn't want any of the black haired woman's rage. Her chakra filled the room like an ocean, looking for someone to drown. Kakashi watched the Hokage attempt to calm her. Pointless. She was just having one of her tantrums. The best way to deal with them was to let her shout and stomp and thrash till she got over it. She wouldn't remove her daughter from the team, not after how happy the girl was to know she was still on it.

"You realize having her removed from team 7 will leave her to be left behind by her peers as they excell to the chunin exams, Ms. Bokuso-chi," Sarutobi reached for her rational mind, only to flinch back as her hot rage burned him. _"Don't threaten my daughter! I already found another team for her to be on for the exams. After she gets her promotion,_ _ **maybe**_ _I'll consider her return, but I sure as goodness refuse to even think about her being under his pitiful watch right now._ " As she spoke, she took out a file she'd compiled of Yuyake's new team and slapped it on the desk of the Third. Of course she was acting like this...

"Sounds fair," Kakashi pushed himself from the wall and stepped into the boiling rage of Yoru. In an instant, she was contained, her chakra retracted into her and her hair fell in place around her. She hated it when he agreed with her, it never gave her a chance to be angry when she felt she had a right too, but as long as she got her intended outcome... _"Fine, whatever!"_ She flung her hands up. "So she's moving to this team for the exams...?" Hokage moved to confirm and a simple nod from the clan leader was the response. "Alright then, this will move into effect tomorrow". and the woman leaves out the door with her robe chasing her bare-feet. Kakashi never understood how she walked _everywhere_ without shoes.

Outside, Kakashi approaches the woman. "You know it was Yuyake who asked for her spot back, I was the one who kicked her off during mission" he tries to get her to understand and the woman turns to him to turn on him, but he's gone. She flared up a bit, gosh she hated when he just leaves mid-disagreement, how are they suppose to get anything done that way? It's like being hung up on, on the phone.

He kicked her off the team?

She trailed through the night, she needed to make dinner. as she walks thoughts crumble beneath her feet, unimportant stuff, like fish or chicken, or whether or not she she should should cook two plates or one. She steps on one thought, though and it stabs her like glass. _"If she asked to be back on the team then she wont be too happy to be off"_ and she notices her folly. She just pondered the strength of the girl's ability to make independent decisions that morn. And if she taught her how to do it right, she should have faith in her choices. _"but I didn't know she had made a choice!"_ she reminds herself, but sighs cause ignorance is never an excuse. She should have asked.

 _"Great... Mistake number 178 with Yuyake,"_ man, single-parenting is hard. She continued home, debating how to break it to Yuyake that she undermined the girl's judgement.

 **~X~**

Yoru, in the end, didn't have the guts to do it that night, but the next day. The idea was to butter her little kunoichi up a bit with her favorite dinner and breakfast and a little allowance before the news is broken. It doesn't go well. Her expressive daughter flings her arms about but makes sure not to knock anything over; she looks betrayed and hurt like she blames the mom for everything wrong in the world and she's just pleaded guilty. It hurt to see her daughter like that and when the boys approach the door, Yu-yu leaves out instead of answering.

It was disappointing how the mind speaker was better at killing someone than raising someone. She just kept letting her precious girl down as far as emotional support, though she had her back in leaving behind exceptions for her to fill. People expected her to be strong and deadly like Yoru, Death's Whisper. Everyone wanted to see what the child of a kunoichi strong enough to drop someone with a flare of chakra would be like, and the answer is: she's apparently let down. she didn't posses the chakra level Yoru had, nor the strength Akane honed, or the tactical mind that Honoo practiced. She didn't even have the loyalty of Yoru's late husband.

Though Yoru knew Yuyake thought she possessed at least one of them, and that she was a force to be reckoned with, but truthfully she was ok for a Bokuso-chi. Now, is that how the mother felt about her child? No! Absolutely not, she felt her daughter was the bee's knees and that anyone who thought other wise would get stung. She just hoped her girl would live through the exams and learn something priceless from it.

The rest of the week before the exams pass by and Yoru cuts clan leader duties to be able to wake the sleeping girl and make her breakfast with notes of encouragement all over every surface, even the floor. _"_ _Good luck! Mommy love you!"_ and the child in black departs. Though as she stands in the door way... Yoru can't help but feel something... dark in her child's mind that wasn't there before she went on the land of waves mission.

Curious...


	3. On her knees

"Talking"

 _"Thought" and sound effects_

 _"Telepathic speech"_ '

 **~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

 **Previously**

The rest of the week before the exams pass by and Yoru cuts clan leader duties to be able to wake the sleeping girl and make her breakfast with notes of encouragement all over the dang place.  
 _"_ _Good luck! Mommy love you!"_ and the child in black departs. Though as she stands in the door way... Yoru can't help but feel something... dark in her child's mind that wasn't there before she went on the land of waves mission.

Curious...

 **~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

 **Chapter 3: On her knees**

 **(between TMK chapters 15 and 16)**

 _"Ok... you can do this. You can DO THIS!"_ Yoru pumps up her blood as she prepares to confront Kakashi. After her folly, she promised to get her daughter's spot back on team seven. So to start the healing process, she needed to get the jonin to accept her girl. _"This is child's play! You've seduced hundreds of men!"_ she enlarges her ego, but it was true. The curves of the strong kunoichi had been cradled by many war-hardened palms, and her wavy hair had sheltered quite a few masculine digits that were just passing by.

But the copy ninja was different.

Moving around the cement corner, the woman tossed her hair out her face to clear her view of... nothing.

Where did he go?

She looks around. "Well, look who's here," and Yoru jumps before turning to the ex-anbu. Yoru inwardly freaks out when the spook causes her to drop all her gather thoughts. Crap! she stumbles to get her instructions back, but draws a blank. How does she flirt again?!

Gosh! he always seemed to know when she was about to pull the seduction-card and would say or do something to knock her off her game. _"GAH! O-oh, There you are Kakashi! I was looking for you"_ she presses her palms together and sways her hair. Was she doing it right? "M-hm,"

 _FLIP!_ he turns the page.

Inwardly, Yoru crumbles.

He was going to make her struggle for this conversation, wasn't he?

 _"How ya been?"_ a shrug. Alright, straight to the point then?  "Ok, _look,I know, I was acting like a controlling brat, and I'm sorry,"_ she looks else where and presses her hair behind her ear. _"I know I can be bull-headed and hard to deal with, but this isn't about me; it's about Yuyake and what makes her happy, "_ she returns to his eyes for a reaction.

 _FLIP!_

He turns another page, and Yoru rolls her eyes. _"Oh, come on Kakashi, I know you aren't reading, you already read this edition 15 times; you're just making it seem like you're reading as to accentuate that you're mad and ignoring me. It's your usual way of making me feel how much I goofed by indirectly saying 'Even this book is better than you' since you warren it attention over me. You do it every time I'm wrong but win the argument. Can we not right now?"_ despite the request, her hand is brushed by the smoke of a teleportation jutsu when she reaches for the book. The choice drops her face in disappointment. _". . .Really?"_ she turns to his new place behind her, slapping her outstretched hand on her thigh in punctuation. He responds not.

 _"Well, whatever, will you let her back on the team?"_ she reiterates. "Hmm... I don't know." he feigns a ponder. "To have a wild card of a woman as the mother of one of my students. It leaves the team vulnerable. How do I know you wont do it again?" and the woman stumbles of the reasons she can't think of. _"Because I wont!"_ she attempts and, it's not very convincing. "I'll have to think on it," _POOF!_ he parts, a huffing woman in his departing cloud.

Great.

A game of Cat and mouse is it?

Why not? She had a month to kill before the final exams...

Let the games begin!

 **~X~**

The few days later

"Kakashi! I challenge you!" Gai stood before the man in question who was still absorbed in his pages of black words. "Depends, is it an eating challenge?" The man looks up and Gai's chuckle is indication, still the man speak. "Ha-ha! Sharp as always!" "Then no" and the interruption shocks the man of green into a depression.

"What?" Might Gai was shocked! Kakashi never turned down a contest unless he was busy! But he wasn't doing anything! So why not?!Didn't their passionate rivalry mean anything? Didn't their camaraderie need the nurturing provided by a good contest!? Had he grown tired of their friend ship? Did He not have any Youth! "But... but why-?" another interruption, "Because Yoru is taking me out to lunch, am I right?" The grey haired jonin looks to the woman in question behind him, and she freezes in a her progression forward with a chill into comical state of shock.

"Huh? Oh! Yoru! The gorgeous heart throb of the leaf, how are you on this fine even?" The bowl-cut gives a sparkling smile. _"Ah... h-hello Gai,"_ she waves pathetically before turning her attention to Kakashi's back. _"How'd you know I was taking you to lunch?"_ she hadn't talked to him since the first turn down, so she couldn't have given it away. "Your steps are a bit heavier than usual, and I could hear change in your pocket, meaning you're carrying money, besides, it's almost noon," he relays, turning yet another page. _"Right... so how about it? "_ she offers The copy ninja. In front of them, but forgotten, the green beast is teary-eyed over their belittlement of his presence, _"You win this round Kakashi"_. "Sorry, but I have a student waiting for me, I have to get food and go back, to him" he starts to talk, solidifying his refusal with reasons, but Yoru rushes forward and takes up his arm, _"T-then let me buy it for you two!_ " she offers and the contact is a surprise. He hadn't felt her gentle touch in a while. He turns to her.

 _TH-THUMP!_

Her hair falls behind her, its dark color accenting the contour of her face, and those ombre eyes sink into his soul.

 _TH-THUMP!_

The curve of her lips and the plush of her bosom on his arm are so familiar. Moments like these were rare. These moments when her beauty was undeniable and raw; they only happen when she's not trying, and they harvest his breath. But he was hella good at masking it. "No, I'll just get it myself," Beauty or not, that didn't excuse her for what she did those years ago, or from any of her other faults. Her frown is determined and she shoots into the restaurant he had be approaching, _"Then you'll have to beat me to it!"_ she gets to the counter. "What?" the jonin is jolted to reality. It's not long before she comes out, victorious with a bag.

But Kakashi is exiting the place across the street with a bag just as full. A huff. "Nice try," he commends, and starts back on his way. The woman comes to walk beside her target and Kakashi looks to her. "You might as well take that to Yuyake, I'm sure she could use it," he states, _"I would... but she's allergic to peppers. . ."_ she simulates a sigh with a slump in her shoulders. Yuya was allergic wasn't she? but she'd been training hard, Naruto too, probably. It wouldn't right for him not to make Yoru waste food when they had too more kids to worry about. Sure, she could give her food to Naruto, but he was sure he could smell menma in the dish, and naruto hated that stuff...

They stop.

A sigh from the male, "Alright, we'll switch food," the copy ninja offered her his package, and his hand to take hers. That seemed to perk her up. She snatched the food from him but held her own hostage as well. _"He he~. Head back to your student, and I'll catch up!"_ and she was among the shingles of the roofs, disguising her steps with the passing breeze. The man sighed, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Of course she was going to pull that. She probably even planned it that way. Well, nothing he could do now

 **~X~**

"There you are." the lone Uchiha stood from the rock beneath him. "I thought you were getting food," he states when he sees his trainer just as light in load as he was when he left. "I was and did. It'll be here in a bit. As well as a little company," and the boy frowns hard at the implication. "Company? This isn't time for some lunch date! I-" "You'll want to see this person, you have some guilt you'll want to relieve between you two." The words silence the boy into contemplating thoughts. Who was it coming? Who did he feel guilty towards?...!

Could it be?

. . .

Sasuke was sitting on his butt when a woman in flowing lavender falls hard onto the rough earth and her bare feet crack the surface. He takes in her thick, wavy hair as she stands to her full height with a grin. She sees him and her grin dampens. The new expression dropping a weight onto his gut.

Guilt.

He could tell just by looking at her that she was Yuyake's mother and this is the first time he's seen her. When he went over Yuya's, he only caught flashes of her as she rushed around the house doing a mixture of clan work, kunoichi work, and house work. Seeing her now, he felt ashamed and self-conscious, which really was how he usually felt, but it was a bit more prominent. So he drops his gaze to her dirty feet and frowns at his own cowardice. Kakashi watches the scene from not too far and is un-surprised, _"Just as I suspected,"_ and the woman attempts to rip the look of blame from her features. It was her fault, what happened to Yuyake, not his. Hers.

Man, she didn't mean to make the boy feel bad, as a mute, she was naturally very expressive with her face and gestures. She needed to work on that.

 _"I brought food!"_ she falls into a cross-legged sitting arrangement before she distributes the edibles. They eat, but it's in heavy silence, at least for Sasuke. He hears his Sensei respond to mental words she gives, but he just stares at his food trying to work up courage. "Well, I suppose I'll take care of this," The copy ninja takes the disposables and leaves the scene in a knowing puff of smoke. The woman seems a tad upset by the grey haired man's leave, and she crosses her arms before turning her nose to the air. Gosh she was so much like Yuyake. . .

Ok. He needs to calm down... Sasuke drops his tensed shoulders and slowly soothes the rock hard expression on his face. Good, now look at her. he raises his chin and she's sitting there with a purple to blue pupil barely peering at him from the corner of her eye. He mistakes her curious gaze for one of judgment, and it almost reignites his nerves. "Mrs. Bokuso-chi," he tries to remain calm and respectful. "I, wanted to apologize for what happened to your daughter during our mission; it was my fault, reconsider your withdrawing of her from the team," he is pleased by his ever so steady tone. _"I already have, why do you think I'm here? I'm trying to convince that young perv of a sensei of yours to let her back with you two,"_ she turns to him fully and drops her arms. _"As for your apology, I find it unnecessary, after reviewing the events, I've realized that it was really me to blame. Though if it is to help you rid yourself of some misplaced guilt, I forgive you,"_ she states, because she has. He was a 12 or 13 year old boy, so he was going to make mistakes. Would one of those mistakes lead to her daughter's death? Maybe. but that, neither, would be his fault.

"I'm back," Kakashi reacquaints himself. His onyx eye takes a calculative sweep of the company. Judging by the satisfied look on Yoru's face and relieved, lightened look on Sasuke's, things went well enough. "Sorry, Yoru, but you'll have to leave now, Sasuke and I have to continue training," he dismisses the woman as she stands. She knocks dirt off her light colors in preparation, _" Of course! I'll be back tomorrow same time! But I'll have to cook for Yuyake, Naruto, and this boy, they'll never last if they keep having take out, Bye~,"_ and she's gone in a puff. Kakashi stares at the air she'd just occupied, he wasn't sure how he felt about that last comment. Yoru's cooking could go either way, from fantastic and gourmet to worse than dirt, and everything in between. At least she was trying.

The days past fast and each one, Yoru spends it with Kakashi and Sasuke at lunch. She attempts to stay away from Yuyake's training for two reasons: 1. Focus was key in Bokuso-chi training 2. She didn't want to ruin Akane's and Yuyake's sister time with the bad air between herself and Akane and Honoo.

Kakashi didn't mind, during the time her cooking never dives beneath 'alright' so that was a plus.

Every now and then, Kakashi and Sasuke hit a rut, and it holds them up for more time than they can spare. "You've got to focus Sasuke, else you wont be able to beat that Gaara kid," Kakashi attempts to coach the boy through it but it doesn't help. He just can't get the moves and speed, let along hold them for as long as he needs... _"Oh, telling him to be better isn't going to help Kakashi, here, let me try " _Yoru stands from her spot near by and walks over. Her hands glow a brilliant blue and she walks to be behind the child. "What are you-" the boy turns but she slams her palms on his ears and keeps his head forward.

 _RIIIING!_

Sasuke's dark eyes widen. There was a... ringing in his head... But it wasn't painful or annoying. On contrary it actually relaxed his shoulders and soothed his rapid heart. Something in his grain just unlocks and his lids droop slightly in such a surreal state of focus he's never felt before. he's quiet and he takes his stance as he prepares to attempt again. Kakashi watches with a hidden smirk as Yoru moves out his apprentice's way. The lively blue chakra engulfed his ears like a ghostly flame, it's haunting whisper silenced by the calming ring. That hyper focus, he experienced it once before during his training to develop the Chidori.

"Begin"

And Sasuke flies into action, His movements fast than sound and more smooth than river-shaped rocks. It's astonishing how perfect his technique is in that moment and when he's complete the cycle of movements, he does it again. And again. And again. By the time the state wears off, he doesn't need it.

Later, when the mother has left, Sasuke looks at his hands like he's just noticed them. "That was amazing... How did. What was?" he turns to his teacher for answers, but the copy ninja just shakes his head. "Don't attempt to understand it, it's a state you'll reach on your own, if you ever get to that level," he explains. Though, it was possible Sasuke would never get there. It takes a mind at piece to reach it, and he and Sasuke were far from peaceful minds.

The mother of the Bokuso-chi and son of the Uchiha grow a sort of respect from then on. At least it starts as respect. It was merely the seed from which a familial type love sprouts and it becomes more and more apparent each time. The direction she offered to the boy became more motherly than instructional. When a certain red head arrives, she blocks Sasuke from Gaara's sight using her body. That particular moment had been awkward as he his face in her stomach and any attempts to pull away were futile until the sand boy had left.

During meals she critiques his posture and mannerisms. " _No Uchiha heir is going to slouch, you'll get a hunch back, then who will respect you?"_ That' what she said. When he mumbles a rebuttal, it earns him a swat to his head. _"You're going to talk back, the least you could do is speak up,"_ she challenges him, but the looming threat in her mental tone buttons his lip. Geeze, who did she think she was. His mom?

...

Why did just thinking that hurt a little?

...

It was true. They share no blood, on contrary, the blood they shared was rotten with rivalry. Darn. There it was, that-that pang in his chest.

What was it!?

Did he. . . did he want to be related to her?

But why?! It makes no sense! She was childish, and silly, and free-spirited... the polar opposite of his meek he liked it. He liked how she was sweet and cuddling, strong and spontaneous. The antithesis of what was his mother. That way he didn't feel bad for loving her. This way he wasn't replacing his deceased caregiver.

There are moments in which there are embraces, at first one-sided, but slowly grows mutual,

The day before the exams, as Yoru leaves to prep the home for Yuyake's return, the last Uchiha turns to the copy ninja. Sasuke asks why the jonin wont let Yuyake back into the team and it makes him laugh when he has to explain she is back on the team, he was just getting back at the mother.


End file.
